In Love With the Supernatural
by Mrs. Elena Gilbert-Salvatore
Summary: This is my OC inserted in the Supernatural timeline. I hope you like it. Please give it a chance. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!
1. Chapter 1

"Thanks, Bobby," I said as I held the cell phone up to my ear with one hand and opened the door to the restaurant with the other. I was in Colorado hunting a vampire's nest. Bobby Singer was a walking encyclopedia when it came to the supernatural world. "But I seriously don't need any help with this hunt. This ain't my first rodeo."

"Just accept the help just this once, Riley," Bobby said. "These two hunters are good at what they do." I maneuvered through the tables heading straight to the counter to get some food.

"I'm good at what I do too." Bobby sighed on the other end of the phone.

"Are you there yet?"

"I just got here."

"Okay, the two hunters are Sam and Dean Winchester. They're brothers and they've been hunting all their lives, unlike you, Riley. They could give you a few pointers while you're looking into Daniel Elkin's death and looking for that damn colt." I rolled my eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me, girl." I softly chuckled. Bobby knows me so well, he didn't have to be next to me to know when I was rolling my eyes at him.

"I got this under control, Bobby."

"Do you see them?" I scanned the restaurant until I spotted two men sitting at a table across from each other.

"Got 'em. Talk to you later, Bobby." I snapped my phone closed and stuffed it into my back pocket as I made my way over to them. Snatching an empty chair as I walked by it, I spun it around to the side of the hunters' table and sat in it backwards, resting my arms on the backrest. An awkward silence fell over us as the man on my right looked up from his newspaper and the man on my left looked up from his laptop. The man with the newspaper had dark hazel eyes. If his eyes flicked in the right light, you could catch a glimpse of emerald green in them. He had short cropped light brown hair with full lips. He wore an army green buttoned up collared shirt with the buttons undone over a black t-shirt. The other man had ear length dark brown hair with green eyes, but his eyes had a little bit of teal glaze to them. He wore a black and white flannel over a blue t-shirt. The man to my left was Samuel Winchester and the hunter to the right was his older brother, Dean.

Sons of John Winchester. The brothers threw each other glances and as Dean opened his mouth to speak, I quickly interrupted him. "My name is Riley. No, you don't know me. No, I don't know you personally, but I have heard of you. No, I'm not anything supernatural. No, I'm not here to kill either of you. Yes, I'm a hunter. Yes, I know there's a case here. Yes, I know what it is. "Yes, I'm here to help you. Does that answer all of your questions?" They exchanged looked with each other once more. "So, are we going to go check out Elkins' cabin or are you two just going to sit there like two big lugs who have no idea what the hell is going on?"

"How do you know about Daniel Elkins?" Dean inquired.

"Friend of a friend of mine. Which I suppose would make him a friend of mine as well, but I never met him, so I guess that would not make him a friend of mine." I squinted my eyes and thought about it for a second. "I don't know. I don't care. The friend of mine who is actually my friend asked me to look into it so here I am and unfortunately, you two knuckleheads just happened to be here as well. So, let's go. I don't have all day." I stood up and put the chair back to its original table and started walking to the exit. With a hand on the door handle, I turned to look back at the brothers to see them talking quietly with each other.

"Oh, come on, boys! Seriously!" I sighed and walked out towards my 1977 Chevy Camaro. The bell on the door jingled and I turned on my heel and walked backwards as I witnessed Sam and Dean walking to the 1967 Chevy Impala in the lot. "Sweet ride, but can it keep up?" I laughed and got into my car and sped out of the parking lot with Dean on my tail.

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The night air was cold and brisk as we walked up the slope to the front door of the Daniel Elkins' cabin. The snow cracked under our feet, the coldness slowly settling into our boots. Sam picked the lock and it swung open with a low creak. I looked over both shoulders and into the darkness of the trees that surrounded the cabin. When I was sure that the coast was clear I followed Dean and Sam inside.

"Looks like the maid didn't come today." Dean muttered as we wondered into the back room where there were papers scattered across the wooden floor.

"Hey, there's salt over here, right inside the door." Sam called from the front door.

"You mean, like, protection-against-demon salt or oops I spilled the popcorn salt?"

"It's clearly a ring. Riley, was Elkins a hunter?"

"Yes." I answered as I found his hunter's journal on his desk. I opened it up absent mindly, feeling the scribbles of the hard-pressed pen on the pages under my fingertips.

"That looks just like our dad's journal." Dean murmured over my shoulder as he peered down at it.

"Whatever attacked him, looks like there was more than one." I looked up at the hole in the roof where the night air creeped its way inside.

"Looks like he put up hell of a fight, too." Dean said quietly as he scanned his flashlight over the carnage on the floor.

"Yeah." I noticed Dean toeing a wooden box on the floor and I quickly snatched it up. There was a shaped pressed into the felt of the interior. I ran my fingers silently over it picturing the colt once sitting in this box along with its bullets.

"What is it?" Sam asked, and I shook my head.

"Nothing. Its nothing." I lied as I set the box down on the desk, disappointed that the colt wasn't here so I could take it back to Bobby. Dean had turned his attention to something else on the floor. He grabbed a piece of paper and pencil from the rummage on the desk and pressed the paper to the floor, rubbing the pencil over it.

"I think it's a message." Dean said as he held the piece of paper up to show us. I reached to grab it from him, so I could see what it said but it snatched it away from me. "I don't think so. We let you come to the cabin with us but that's about as far as we're going to trust you." I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Are you serious?" I questioned him.

"Dead serious." I took one step towards him and looked up at him, my face hardening.

"If I wanted to kill either one of you, you would be dead by now." In the darkness and in the dim light of the flashlight, I saw his eyes harden and soften as he tried to decide. "Now, I would like to find out who killed this man. If you get in my way, then I won't hesitate to push you aside."

"Dean." Sam called to his brother softly. Without breaking his stare with me, Dean handed his little brother the slip of paper. Sam read it over. "It's the location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop."

"That's just the way Dad does it." Dean confirmed as he finally turned to look at Sam.

"Can we go see what the hell is in it?" I snapped, getting irritated.

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I was forced to wait in the back seat of the Impala while Dean and Sam broke inside the post office to retrieve whatever was inside the mailbox. What seemed like ages, the brothers finally came back with an envelope in Dean's hand. I leaned forward in the seat to look at it over Dean's shoulder. _J.W._ was scribbled on the front of it.

"J.W.?" Sam murmured. "You think John Winchester?"

"I don't know." Dean said, his eyes not leaving the envelope. "Should we open it?" There was a knock on the driver's window and we all jumped as a figure bent down and peered in. While Dean and Sam stared at the man in shock, I smiled. "Dad?" John climbed into the back seat and looked over at me in surprise.

"Riley?" John breathed.

"Hi, John." I smiled.

"What are you doing here? Does Bobby know you're here?"

"Of course, he knows. Who do you think sent me here?"

"How is he doing?"

"Good. Still wants to gut you, but he's doing good."

"You two know each other?" Dean snapped. "You didn't tell us that." I looked over at him.

"I did say Daniel Elkins was a friend of a friend of mine. I just didn't give you a name."

"How do you two know each other?" John and I glanced at each other. I opened my mouth, but John spoke first.

"I should look at that." John said, ignoring the question. Without hesitation, Dean handed his father the envelope. He pulled out a piece of parchment and began reading it. _"If you're reading this then I'm already dead."_ He read the rest of the letter to himself. "Son of a bitch."

"What is it?"

"He had it the whole time."

"Had what?"

"When you searched the place, did you see a gun, an antique, a colt revolver? Did you see it?" I shook my head.

"The gun wasn't there." I answered. "But he did have it at one point. There was an empty antique revolver case."

"They have it."

"You mean whatever killed Elkins?" Dean questioned John.

"We have to pick up their trail."

"Wait." Sam said, shocked. "You want us to come with you?"

"If Elkins is telling us the truth, then we have got to find this gun."

"The gun? Why?"

"Because it's important that's why."

"Dad, we don't even know what these things are." John looked back at me.

"When's the last time you've been hunting? I know Bobby doesn't let you out often." I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"I'm not rusty, if that's what you're asking. I can still hunt vampires."

"Vampires?" Dean breathed. "I thought there were no such things."

"You never even mentioned them, Dad." Sam added.

"I thought they were extinct." John told his sons. "I thought Elkins and others wiped them all out. I was wrong."

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"Why are you here, Riley?" John asked me as I peered at the map in front of me using a flashlight. I was sitting in the front seat of John's truck with him driving with Sam driving the impala behind us with Dean.

"Um, hunting a nest of vampires?" I reminded him. "Is your old age damaging your short-term memory span?"

"I mean, why did Bobby send you, smartass?"

"He wanted me to check out Elkins' death."

"Have you told my sons what you are?"

"I don't even know what I am, John. Have you told your sons what the gun actually is?"

"You don't know even know what the gun is." Sighing, I folded up the map and half turned to him.

"It was built by Samuel Colt in 1835 along with thirteen bullets that supposedly can kill anything. He made it for another hunter who used it at least six times. Somehow Elkins got his hands on it and you now want it to kill whatever killed Mary." John was silent for several minutes. "Revenge is not the answer, John, and your sons should have never been raised into this life."

"I didn't have a choice."

"You always have a choice, John. You made the choice of not killing me all those years ago. Instead, you _chose_ to take me to Bobby."

"You were just a baby."

"And so were Dean and Sam at one point." Before John could answer me, an engine revved up behind us and the impala shot around us before turning sideways as it skidded to a halt in the middle of the road. I had to brace myself with my hand on the dash as John slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car. John put the truck and got out to walk over to the impala as Sam and Dean exited the vehicle. I got out as well to stand in front of the truck.

"What the hell was that?"

"We need to talk." Sam barked. Dean raced around the car to try to get between his brother and father.

"About what?"

"About everything. Where we going, Dad? What's the big deal about this gun? What's the deal with this girl? How do you two know each other?"

"We can Q&A after we kill the vampires." Dean said, trying to pacify his family.

"Your brother's right." John said lowly, his voice laced with quiet thunder. "We don't have time for this.

"Last we saw you, you said it was too dangerous for us to be together." Sam kept going, his tone getting angrier and angrier with each word. "Now, out of the blue, you need out help." Dean rolled his eyes as he looked up and down the street to make sure that no were coming in either directions. "Obviously something big is going down and we want to know what!"

"Get back in the car."

"No." John took one menacing towards his son and for a second, I thought a fight was about to break out.

"I said get back in the damn car."

"Yeah, and I said no." Dean slid between his father and brother and pushed them away from each other.

"All right, you've made your point, tough guy. Look, we're all tired. We can talk about this later. Sammy, I mean it. Get in the car." Dean said as he turned Sam around and gave him a light shove back to the impala.

"This is why I left in the first place."

"What'd you say?" John questioned him, and Sam turned back around to look him in the eye.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, _you_ left—your brother and me—we needed you. You walked away, Sam! You walked away!" And the gap between the men closed once more as John took a hold of the front of Sam's jacket in his fists.

"You're the one who said don't come back, Dad. You're the one who closed that door, not me! You were just pissed that you couldn't control me anymore!"

"Stop it!" Dean yelled as he pried John's hand from Sam's clothing and put himself in the middle once more. "Stop it! Stop it! That's enough!" I pushed off from the front bumper I was leaning on and walked over to John and put my hand on his arm.

"That's enough, John." I said quietly. "Let's go. We have work to do." After glaring at each other for another minute, Sam abruptly turned to get back in the impala and John went to his truck, leaving Dean and me standing in the middle of the road.

"Terrific."

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I stood in the trees along with the three men and peered through the dead winter branches as the run-down barn where a beat up 70s Nova pulled up. A man got out as the door to the barn open and someone else walked out. The second man shielded his eyes with his hand from the sun that was trying to emerge from the cloudy sky. He held the door open for the first man and closed the door behind them.

"Son of a bitch." Dean breathed. "So, they're really not afraid of sun?"

"No, direct sunlight hurts like a nasty sunburn." John explained. "The only way to kill them is by beheading. And, yeah, they sleep during the day. It doesn't mean they won't wake up."

"So, I guess walking right in's not our best option."

"Actually, that's the plan." We walked back to the cars. Dean and Sam opened the trunk of the impala to their arsenal while John and I went to his truck and he opened his case in the bed.

"Dad, I got an extra machete if you need one." John unsheathed his and showed it to him.

"Think I'm okay, thanks."

"Wow." Dean held the machete out to me and I took it from him.

"Thanks." I breathed, unsheathing the blade and twirling it in my hand to get a feel for the weight before putting in back in its sheath.

"So. . ." John began to speak but paused. "You boys want to know about this colt?"

"Yes, sir." Sam addressed him formally.

"It's just a story. . . a legend really. Well, I thought it was. Never really believed it until I read Daniel's letter. Back in 1835, when Halley's comet was overhead, the same night those men died at the Alamo, they say Samuel Colt made a gun. . . a special gun. He made it for a hunter. A man like us, only on horseback. The story goes he made thirteen bullets. This hunter used the gun a half dozen times before he disappeared, the gun along with him. Somehow, Daniel got his hand on it. They say—they say this gun can kill anything."

"Kill anything, like supernatural anything?" Dean questioned him.

"Like the demon." Sam said as he pieced it together.

"Yeah, the demon." John confirmed. "Ever since I picked up its trail, I've been looking for a way to destroy that thing. Find the gun. . . we may have it."

"I hate to break up this little family moment, but let's say we go kill a nest of vampires?" I said, twirling the machete in my hand. I turned to the barn and slowly made it up to the door and pushed it open. There were hammocks all over the barn with vampires sleeping in them. I walked on the balls of my feet and kept my movements slow and quiet as Sam moved around ahead of me to look for any victims. John broke away from us as he went to go search for the colt. Bottles rattled behind me and I spun around and crouched down low as I stared wide-eyed at vampire who was stirring in his hammock. When he settled back down and didn't move, I glared at Dean who dropped his head and sighed in relief.

"Dean." I heard Sam whisper to his older brother from the other side of the barn and Dean hastily but silently moved over to him while I looked around for any vampires that were about to wake up.

"Riley." Dean called to me and I walked over to him by some locked cages that had more victims inside. Dean grabbed a hook from the top of the cage and slid it under one of the hinges and jerked up. I shut my eyes tightly and held my breath as it fell apart with a loud creak. When nothing happen, Dean moved on to the next hinge. But before he could take it apart, a screaming sounded behind, and I turned to see the victim that Sam was trying to help was a vampire.

"Boys!" John called from the back of the barn. "Riley! Run!" I didn't need to be told twice as the whole nest woke up and got out of their hammocks and started to make their way to us. Sam and Dean burst through the main doors of the barn and I took the time to open them further to let in more sunlight to stop them from coming any further. I followed the brothers back into the trees and we didn't stop until we got back to the cars and I turned to see if John was behind us. He was no where to be seen.

"Dad?!" No answer. "Dad?!" Branches crackled and a shape that blended well into the trees emerged. Sam and Dean started to race to the impala, but John stopped them.

"They won't follow. They'll wait till tonight. Once a vampire gets your scent, it's for life.

"What the hell do we do now?"

"You got to find the nearest funeral home." Dean stared at his father wide-eyed in shock before looking to his younger brother who had nothing to say.

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I leaned against the hood of the impala and checked my watch for the tenth time in the past five minutes. I sighed and threw my head back, tapping my foot furiously against the ground. It should not be taking this long to break into a funeral home and get a jar of dead man's blood. Just as I checked my watch for the eleventh time, a voice sounded behind me.

"Got it." Dean said as he went around to the driver's side of the impala with a brown paper bag in his hands.

"About damn time." I growled as I got into the passenger seat and Dean got in and started it up and began to drive back to the motel.

"Hey, breaking into a funeral home and stealing a jar of dead man's blood takes time."

"I'm pretty sure I could have done it faster." Dean just scoffed, and we sat in silence for a while.

"How do you know my father?" And here was the topic that couldn't be avoided. I propped my elbow up on the door panel and set my temple on my fist as I stared at the window and tried to come up with an answer that wasn't completely lying to him.

"I was just a baby when I was abandoned, and John found me. He took me to Bobby Singer who took care of me and raised me."

"Bobby Singer? Impossible. Sam and I were always there, and we never saw you."

"I went back and forth between Bobby and another hunter who had a daughter. His daughter quickly became like a sister to me and John and Bobby both became like fathers to me especially when they decided not to kill me."

"Why would they kill you?" I sighed. If John knew I was supernatural and didn't kill me, then his sons should do the same, but I still didn't trust his sons, so I didn't know why I showed Dean. I looked over him and flashed my true eyes at him. The impala screeched to the halt as Dean slammed on the brakes and I braced myself against the dashboard. Dean was pulling out his gun as I got out of the car. I raced around the impala and slammed my entire body into the door to knock him off balance and his dropped his gun. I kicked it away and ducked as he swung at me. I danced out of his reach on the balls of my feet and held my hands up in front of me.

"Don't you think if John thought I was a threat he would had killed me himself?" That made Dean pause for a second.

"You lied to us."

"For good reasons. To avoid exactly what is happening now. But what I told you at the cabin was true. If I wanted you dead, you would be dead by now." Dean was silent. "Now John and Sam are probably getting impatient waiting on that dead man's blood. So, let's go back to the motel and deal with this later. Okay?" After retrieving his gun, Dean walked back to the car and got in and I followed suit. He kept his gun pointed at me all the way back to the motel. When he parked the car, I got out and stormed into the motel room where John and Sam were. "Your sons are loco, John. This one—" I pointed to Sam. "—whips the car in front of us so we almost hit them and kill them. This one—" I pointed to Dean. "—just tried to freakin' kill me." John glared at Dean.

"What do you mean he just tried to kill you?" John growled.

"What the hell is she, Dad?" Dean snapped, and John looked back at me.

"I let it slip." I said. "I thought if I trusted you then I could trust your sons but apparently not. Might as well tell them now."

"We don't know what she is." John explained. "She was a baby when I found her and when I saw the eyes I knew she was something supernatural and as a hunter I know that I'm supposed to kill anything supernatural, but she was just a baby. Supernatural or not, I couldn't bring myself to kill her, so I took her to Bobby's who has been trying to figure it out but with no luck. Now, we have more pressing matters at hand right now and no one lays a harmful finger on her. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Sam muttered.

"Yes, sir." Dean agreed, still glaring at me.

"Loco." I breathed at him. Dean pulled out the jar of blood and handed it to John.

"You know what to do." John said.

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I crouched next to the fire and stirred up the ashes as the boys walked up behind me. They had just come back from snatching the leader of the pack's mate.

"You good, Riley?" John asked me, and I peered up at him.

"Are you?" I smirked.

"She's already loaded up in the truck with dead man's blood. Is it done?"

"Saffron, skunks, cabbage and trillium. Just how Bobby taught me. It'll block our scent and hers until we're ready."

"Stuff stinks." Dean coughed.

"That's the point." John said. "Dust your clothes with the ashes and you'll stand a chance of not being detected."

"You sure they'll come after her?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Vampires mate for life. She means more to the leader than the gun. But the blood sickness is gonna wear off soon, so you don't have a lot of time. Half hour. At most. And then I want you out of the area as fast as you can. And, Riley, I want you to head straight back to Bobby's."

"But—"

"You can't' take care of them all yourself." Dean interrupted Sam.

"I'll have her and the colt." John assured.

"But after, we're gonna meet up, right?" Sam inquired. John hung his head. "Use the gun together, right?" John looked away from his sons and towards me and I held my hands up to show that I wasn't having any part of this conversation. "You're leaving again, aren't you? You still want to go after the demon alone?" John looked back at Sam. "You know, I don't get you. You can't treat us like this."

"Like what?"

"Like children."

"You are my children. I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Dad, all due respect, but that's a bunch of crap." Dean spoke up and my eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Excuse me?"

"You know what Sammy and I have been hunting. Hell, you sent us on a few hunting trips yourself. You can't be that worried about keeping us safe."

"It's not the same thing, Dean."

"Then what is it? Why do you want us out of the big fight?"

"This demon. . . it's a bad son of a bitch. I can't make the same moves if I'm worried about keeping you alive."

"You mean you can't be as reckless."

"Look. . . I don't expect to make it out of this fight in one piece. Your mother's death. . .it almost killed me. I can't watch my children die, too. I won't."

"What happens if you die? Dad, what happens if you die and we could have done something about it? You know, I've been thinking. I think maybe Sammy's right about this one. I think we should do this together. We're stronger as a family, Dad. We just are. You know it."

"We're running out of time. You do your job, and you get out of the area. That's an order."

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Dean, Sam and I walked into the vampire's nest. I went through the rows of hammocks, slicing through the necks of each vampire before they could even wake up. Dean made his way back over to the cages to finish what he started earlier. Sam and I cleared out the rest of the nest while Dean got the victims to safety. After clearing out the barn, we walked outside, and I threw back my head and breathed in the night air. It was now time for me to go home. I turned to the brothers who were talking to each other next to the impala.

"It was nice meeting you, boys." I said as I waved bye to them. I turned to leave but Dean stopped me.

"Riley." I turned back to him. "We need your help." I smiled.

"Oh, how the tables have turned."

"We can't just let our dad face the vamps by himself. We have to help him."

"Even though he specifically told you not to help him?"

"Please, Riley. I'm making the attempt to trust you. Don't make me regret it." I dropped the smile, masking my face with seriousness.

"I won't. Let's go." We made our way through the trees, just a little way down the highway to were John's truck and the vamps' cars were parked in the middle of the street. As soon as the boys saw their father on the ground, they barged through the tree line and fired their crossbows with dead man's blood on the arrows. I slid down the hillside and charged at the nearest vampire only to have her grab me by the throat and throw me to the ground on my back. She picked me up with supernatural strength and wrapped her arm around my neck. Fear started to trump instincts and a power surge from deep inside me started to build. I gasped loudly as the power grew and something else took over. I pushed the vampire off me and turned to her and took her head in my hands. I snapped her head quickly to my right, tearing her head clean off her shoulders. Just as quickly as it came, the power left me, and I was left drained.

"Don't!" A male's voice sounded and panting, I turned to see a vampire with Sam in a headlock and Dean in front of them with a machete in his hand. "I'll break his neck. Put the blade down." Dean hesitated, and Sam gasped for air as the vampire's grip got tighter. Metal clanked against the blacktop as Dean dropped the machete. "You people. Why can't you just leave us alone? We have as much right to live as you do."

"I don't think so." John said from behind the vampire. The male swung around, and John held up the colt and took aim before firing, the bullet landing right in the male's forehead. The vampire's grip on Sam loosened and Dean grabbed his little brother and pulled him back. The vampire dropped to his knees before falling dead over.

"Luther!" The female screamed for her mate. She tried to charge at John, but another vampire pulled her back.

"Kate don't!" She yelled. They turned to get in their cars and sped off.

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I walked through the front door of Bobby's house and walked down the hallway to the staircase. I walked pass the den where Bobby was sitting at his desk looking through some books.

"I'm home." I called to him. He looked up at him at me, his grey eyes full of relief.

"How did it go?" He asked. "Did you get the colt?"

"John has it. He's going to use it to kill the demon."

"That son of a bitch!" I turned away from to walk up the stairs letting him seethe in private. I walked into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I made my way over to the full-length mirror in the corner and uncovered it. Keeping my eyes closed, I freed my hair from my ponytail holder. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes and looked at my reflection. I gazed at the reflection to see burning, deep red, glowing eyes gazing right back at me.


	2. Chapter 2

I stood at the window in the study with my arms across my chest and stared at Dean in the junkyard at Bobby's. It felt like I was standing there for hours, just watching his every movement. Sam was somewhere in the house, wandering about while Bobby sat at his desk behind me.

"You should have let me go with them." I finally said, not tearing my eyes off Dean. Bobby sighed behind me, papers rustling in his hands. "But instead, you sent me away."

"You would have been killed, Riley." Bobby tried explaining to me for the tenth time. "I'm surprised the boys are still alive." I whirled on him, my eyes glowing red with anger.

"John is dead, Bobby! I could have helped! I could have done something!"

"Like what?"

"Anything, Bobby!" My hostile energy surged through the room causing books to fly off their shelves. I immediately calmed down, but Bobby never flinched. "I'm sorry." I scurried to collect the books off the floor and return them to the shelves. Once I was done, I sighed and placed my hands on my hips, facing Bobby. "You can't cage me in, Bobby."

"I'm not trying to, Riley. I just don't want you gettin' hurt." I studied his eyes and watched them quiver under the lie.

"You mean you don't want _others_ gettin' hurt." Bobby sat there quietly. Biting my inner cheek and placing my hands on my hips, I ever so slightly turned my body to look back out the window to see Dean under the wreckage of what used to be the impala. Bobby explained to me what happened. They found the yellow eyed-demon but it managed to possess John. After Sam managed to shoot John in the leg with the Colt, the demon left John's body, but he was injured bad and so was Dean after the demon tortured him while possessing his father. Driving to the hospital, the impala got t-boned by a semi which a demon was possessing the driver. The accident did not help Dean, who was already dying. To save his son's life, John traded his life for Dean's to the yellow-eyed demon. Dean wasn't taking his death so well. "I'm going to head back." I stuffed my hands in my pocket and made my way to the front door. "Keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. Or reckless. Or both."

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I had just changed into some sleeping shorts and a tank top and was about to crawl into bed when a groan sounded downstairs, causing me to freeze. The bar was closed and Ellen and Jo should both be asleep. On second thought, it could have been Ash in his drunken state wandering around. Or it could have been Ash getting himself into trouble because he was drunk. Reluctantly, I walked back out of my bedroom to the staircase and slowly descended them. There was the sound of a rifle racking sounded before there was bone crunching and I rounded the corner to see Jo snatching her rifle from a man who was clinching his nose in pain, his eyes shut closed.

"Sam!" He cried out. "I need some help in here!" The corner of my mouth twitched and I pursed my lips in amusement as I recognized that voice. I stepped up to Jo's right side and smiled at her but she didn't take her eyes off the intruder. "I can't see. I can't even see." Dean tilted his head back and blinked his eyes a few times as he tried to clear the pain that had to be surging through the bridge of his nose. The door to the kitchen creaked open and Sam walked out with his hands behind his head and Ellen behind him with her revolver to his head.

"Sorry, Dean." Sam apologized. "I can't right now. I'm a little tied up." I placed my right hand on my hip and laughed. These two bad ass hunters just got their asses whipped by some bartenders. Dean glanced over at me, his eyebrows pinching together.

"Riley?" His voice was muffled as he was still clenching onto his nose. Jo looked over at me, her smooth, silk blonde hair moving with ease around her shoulders. Her brown eyes narrowed at me as she pursed her lips in confusion.

"You know these two?" She asked me. I let out another chuckle.

"Yeah. These are John Winchester's sons, Ellen." I said. "They're just some idiots who thought breaking into a roadhouse would be a smart idea." Ellen reluctantly put her revolver down and Jo followed her mother's suit.

"Son of a bitch." Ellen muttered. "Hey, I'm Ellen. That's my daughter, Jo, and apparently you already know Riley."

"Hey." Jo said quietly, still gripping tightly to her rifle.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" Dean nervously questioned her as he finally let go of his nose. I walked behind the counter of the bar to the ice box and grabbed a towel and began filling the towel up with some ice. Dean and Sam sat down at the bar as Jo and Ellen walked behind the bar. I closed the towel up and handed it to Dean who gradually took it from me and gingerly placed it on his nose. He had a scar that ran down the center of his forehead to his nose that was slowly fading as it was healing.

"How did you three meet?" Ellen asked me.

"I was following a lead for Bobby and we happened to cross paths on a vampire case in Colorado." I answered, leaning against the counter. "Met up with John, too."

"You called our dad, said you could help—help with what?" Dean asked Ellen.

"Well, the demon, of course." She said, causing Sam and Dean to exchange glances. "I heard he was closing in on it."

"Was there an article in the _Demon Hunter's Quarterly_ that I missed? I mean, who are you? How do you know about all this?"

"Hey, I just run a saloon. But hunters have been known to pass through now and again, including your dad a long time ago. Right around the time, Riley first arrived here." I snapped my fingers and clicked my tongue in confirmation. "John was like family once."

"Oh, yeah? How come he's never mentioned you before?"

"You'd have to ask him." I tensed up. I had only just gotten to the roadhouse and I thought everyone was asleep. I haven't told them Ellen or Jo that John had died. I waited for Dean or Sam to mention it but neither one of them did.

"So, why exactly do we need your help?"

"Hey, don't do me any favors." Ellen snapped and I smiled at her tone. Ellen had been like a mother to me for my entire life and I remember her getting that same exact tone with me every time I did something I wasn't supposed to do. "Look, if you don't want my help, fine. Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out. But John wouldn't have sent you if. . ."

"Ellen," I called to her in a hushed whisper. She stopped talking and looked over me and I ever so slightly shook my head and she understood what I was indicating before looking back at the boys.

"He didn't send you." Dean looked away from her, not wanting to make eye contact while Sam hung his head, his shaggy bangs falling just above his eyebrows. Dean looked over at his younger brother and Sam reluctantly met his gaze. "He's all right, isn't he?" Dean sucked his upper lip into his teeth as he dropped his eyes to the floor.

"No." Sam answered. "No, he isn't."

"I was going to tell you, Ellen." I said softly. Her jawline tighten as her eyes grew darker with sorrow and regret and she pursed her lips.

"It was the demon, we think. It just got him before he got it, I guess."

"I'm so sorry." Ellen finally responded.

"It's okay." Dean said, his tone a little sharp as he tried to hold back his emotions. "We're all right.

"Really, I know how close you and your dad—"

"Really, Lady, I'm fine." A growl rumbled deep in my chest as my eyes flashed red. I didn't like the tone he was using with my surrogate mother.

"Watch your tone, boy." I snarled. Dean and I stared at each other for a moment, a growl still reverberating through my chest for emphasis, daring him to say something else. He finally dropped my gaze, pressing the ice back to his nose.

"So, look if you can help. . ." Sam broke the silence. "We could use all the help we can get." Sam timidly looked to his older brother which Dean met with a harsh gaze.

"Well, we can't." Ellen said, glancing over at Jo and me. "But Ash will."

"Who's Ash?" I lifted my chin in the air and let out a loud, long high pitched whistle.

"Yo, Ash!" I yelled to the unconscious body on the pool table on the other side of the saloon. The figure grunted and jolted awake as Sam and Dean turned to look at him in shock.

"What?" Ash called out to no one in particular as he looked around frantically, trying to gather his bearings. His shoulder length medium brown hair was tangled and his red flannel shirt with the ripped off arm sleeves had beer stains on it. He finally managed to roll himself over to look at Ellen. "Closing time?" Sam and Dean looked back at us with concern, hoping that we were joking about this being the person that could help them.

"That's Ash?" Sam inquired, pointing to the drunkard.

"Mmm." Jo hummed her confirmation. "He's a genius."

"Go get yourself a glass of water, Ash," I ordered. "And get your ass over here."

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

After Ash finally woke up himself enough to where he was somewhat coherent and I changed clothes, Sam sat down at the bar to the right of Ash and Dean threw down a leather folder. I grabbed some glasses from under the bar while Jo fetched a pitcher of beer for the men. Ash sniffed and wrinkled his nose, blinking his eyes a few times to wake himself up even more. Dean scoffed and rolled his forest green eyes.

"You got to be kidding me." Dean barked, crossing his arms over his chest, his biceps pushing against the fabric of his sleeves. "He's no genius. He's a Lynyrd Skynyrd Roadie." Ash smiled and looked over at Jo and me before looking back at Dean.

"I like you." Ash said.

"Thanks."

"Just give him a chance." Jo told Dean as she began filling the glasses up with beer. Dean exchanged looks with her before turning his attention back to Ash. Ash sat there in silence with a shit-eating grin on his face for a moment before Dean finally sighed with defeat and sat down next to Sam.

"All right. Well, this stuff's about a year's worth of our dad's work, so, uh, let's see what you make of it." Dean slid the leather folder across the counter to Ash. Without breaking eye contact, Ash took research and unraveled the binding of it to open it and pulled a stacked of papers. Ash finally broke eye contact with Dean to quickly skim through the research papers, getting an idea with what he was dealing with.

"Come on." Ash chuckled after a moment. "This crap ain't real. Ain't nobody can track a demon like this." Dean and Sam exchanged looks.

"Our dad could." Sam assured him. Ash's hazel eyes shifted between the two brothers and then back down to the papers.

"These are nonparametric statistical overviews, cross-spectrum correlations. I mean. . . damn. They're signs, omens. If you can track them, you can track this demon—you know, like crop failures, electrical storms. You ever been struck by lightning? It ain't fun."

"Can you track it or not?"

"Yeah, with this, I think so. But it's gonna take time. Give me. . ." Ash tightly closed his eyes and silently moved his lips as he processed the information. "Fifty-one hours." Ash gathered up the papers into a jumbled stack and got up from the bar and began to walk away until Dean called him back.

"Hey, man!" Dean yelled. Ash grunted and turned back around. "By the way, I dig the haircut."

"All business up front, party in the back." With that said, Ash returned to his room. I pulled out the record book out from under the counter and groaned when I saw the receipts and paperwork sticking out.

"Do you guys not go through this when I'm not here?" I groaned at Ellen and Jo. They both just shrugged their shoulders causing me to roll my eyes and throw my head back in exasperation. "Come on, Jo, you're helping me." Sighing, Jo threw down her rag and followed me, leaving her mother to polish the glasses by herself. I sat down at a table and Jo took a seat across from me and I opened the book and began sorting out the stack of receipts. We worked in silence for a few moments before Jo spoke up.

"So you met them before?" Jo asked.

"Yeah, just once. Took out a vampire nest together a while back." I muttered.

"What's Dean like?" I shrugged my shoulders, not looking up from my work.

"He's—" I paused when I realized what she was trying to get at, and her failed nonchalant tone gave it away. "Jo, no." She looked at me wide-eyed as if she had no idea what I was talking about. "You leave him be."

"Riley, I think I'm capable of choosing who I want to sleep with."

"Exactly, sleep with. That's all _he's_ looking for. You deserve someone who you can settle down with, who's not going to be all over God's green earth and someone who isn't a player." She rested her elbows on the table and leaned in towards me, her eyes shining with mischief.

"Come on, Ry, you can't tell me that you don't think he's cute."

"I think tigers are cute but that doesn't mean I'm going to go up and pet one." Sighing, she leaned back in her chair.

"Whatever, Riley. I was just asking. I'm smarter than that." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Are you?" She opened her mouth to retort but before she could say anything, Dean came walking up and sat down between us. I gave Jo one last sharp warning look before grabbing my work and moving one table over.

"How did your mom get into this stuff, anyway?" Dean asked Jo, resting his elbows on the table.

"My dad." Jo answered. "He was a hunter. He passed away."

"I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago. I was just a kid. Sorry to hear about your dad."

"Yeah. So, I guess I got fifty-one hours to waste. Maybe tonight we should. . ." I quickly raised my head from my work and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest. I raised my eyebrows at Jo, who ever so slightly looked over at me. I mouthed, _told you so_ to her and she rolled her eyes. With a shit eating grin, I sat there and waited to hear her response to Dean, but she didn't say anything. Instead she continued to stand there and stare at him as if giving him a chance to take back his statement. "Oh, you know what? Never mind."

"What?" Dean shook his head and shrugged his broad shoulders.

"Nothing, just. . . wrong place, wrong time."

"I thought you were gonna toss me some cheap pickup line." Dean gave a nervous chuckle. "Most hunters come through that door think they can get in my pants with some pizza, a six pack and side one of _Zeppelin IV._ But I'm smarter than that." Jo threw me a harsh look with her last sentence and I held my hands up in surrender.

"What a bunch of scumbags."

"Not you."

"I guess not."

"Dean, come here." Sam called from the bar. "Check this out." Dean got up and walked over to his brother and Jo came over to my side and looked down at me. I held her stare for a moment.

"What?" I finally said.

"What?" She shot back. I laughed and playfully shoved her.

"Go on, now, get." I chuckled. "I can handle this myself." Jo giggled and walked back over to her mother at the bar.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

After the failed attempt of trying to get into Jo's pants, Sam found a case in the folder Ellen gave him and dragged Dean along with him. Fifty-one hours after they left, I sat in a chair at the bar with my legs propped up on the counter. There were a group of hunters in the back corner with their shotguns laid out on the table in front of them, busy cleaning and polishing them. I heard the faint rumble of the purring engine of the impala as they pulled into the parking lot. The engine died and doors squeaked as they opened and closed. Seconds later, Dean and Sam walked into the roadhouse, looking exhausted. They both sat down at the bar and rested their elbows up on the counter. Ellen immediately pulled out a couple beers for the brothers and handed it to them while they gave her a run down of the case. It was a Rakshasa, a Hindu creature that made itself look a human and fed on human flesh. In this case, it was making itself look like a clown getting little kids to lead it to their houses and feed on their parents.

"You boys did a hell of a job." Ellen said. "Your dad would have been proud."

"Thanks." Sam muttered. Jo came walking up to Dean's left side and leaned on both elbows on the counter, staring at Sam. Sam gave her a welcoming smile which she returned but her eyes were telling a different story. Dean looked from Jo to Sam before keeping his eyes on his little brother, sharing the same look as Jo. Sam finally got the message. "Oh, yeah, I've got to, uh. . . I've got to go. . . over there. . . right now." Sam got up from the bar, taking his beer with him and headed over to the pool table.

"Smooth." I chuckled under my breath, turning the page in my book. I felt Jo's eyes on me but I didn't meet her gaze as I said, "Oh, sweetheart, you may have gotten Britney Spears to leave but my ass is staying right in this seat." I ever so slightly lifted my eyes to her and she narrowed her eyes at me. I turned my attention back to my book as she cleared her throat.

"Am I gonna see you again?" Jo quietly asked Dean. It took him a moment to respond.

"Do you want to?" He inquired.

"I wouldn't hate it." Ellen, who stood behind the bar with her back to Dean and Jo, exchanged glances with me.

"Can I be honest with you? See, normally, I'd be hitting on you so fast it'd make your head spin, but. . . I don't know."

"Wrong place, wrong time?"

"Something like that."

"It's okay. I get it." Jo gave Dean one last smile before moving behind the counter to help her mother with the glasses. Taking one more swig of his beer, Dean got up from his barstool and made his way over to the seat next to me. Before I spoke, I raised my eyes to make sure Jo and Ellen were far enough away where to couldn't hear us. They were working side by side, indulged in their own conversation to notice us.

"So, you couldn't get into the pants of a sweet, beautiful, human girl so you're trying your luck on a monstrous freak like me?" I mumbled, pretending to be still reading the book in my hands.

"She deserves better." Letting out a gasp, I placed a hand over my heart, pretending to be offended as I finally looked over at him.

"And a monster like me doesn't?"

"Trust me, Riley, I've come across a lot of monsters and you're nothing like them."

"Wow, gee, I wish you would have realized that the first time we met when you tried to _kill me._ " He let out a nervous laugh and hung his head for a second.

"Yeah, sorry, let's just call it. . . heat of the moment."

"Mmmmm." I hummed. I closed my book and tossed it onto the counter before pulling my legs down and sitting up, resting my arms on the bar. "Well, sorry, I only use sex as a distraction and at this particular moment, there is nothing that I need to be distracted from." Reaching over to take his beer from him, I met his gaze and my breath hitched in my throat. It was like I was seeing his for the first time. It was as if I never realized how handsome, how incredibly attractive he was. From his short cut light brown hair to his deep forest green eyes and down to his full lips and chiseled cheekbones, it made my heart stutter. It was his eyes that sealed the deal. Staring in them gave me a feeling of serenity and a sense of calmness. Nothing else matter. Realizing that I was staring at him for a moment too long, I quickly took his beer and took a big gulp from it, looking away from him before I started acting like a schoolgirl with a crush.

"And what if I needed a distraction?" I risked looking over at him again, the edge of the bottle to my lips, trying to figure out if his was joking or not. It didn't look like he was joking. I took another swig and slid the bottle back over to him before smiling.

"Then, my room is up those stairs to the left and last door at the end of the hallway." I made my tone as jokingly as I could, giving him a serpentine grin. Before he could respond, the door to the back swung open and Ash came walking in with the same clothes he was wearing when Dean and Sam left him.

"Where you guys been?" He asked, nonchalantly. "I been waiting for you."

"We were working a job, Ash." Sam answered from the other side of the saloon. Ash just stared at him. "Clowns?"

"Clowns? What the—"

"You got something for us, Ash?" Dean inquired. Ash strolled over to a table and set his makeshift laptop down as Dean got up joined his side with Sam. Before I could stop myself, I was following his movements, watching the way he walked, the way he stood. I felt Jo's presence across from me on the other side of the bar. She rested her forearms on the counter and leaned in towards me.

"I don't know whether to be offended or impressed." She said, watching Dean as well.

"About what?" I asked, still not looking towards her.

"I wanted him, you said no and now you're going after him. Kind of hypocritical, don't you think?" I finally looked towards her; eyes wide with realization. I hung my head and dug my fingers into my hair. I never thought about it that way. It wasn't fair to her. Usually I felt like a freak but in this moment, I felt utterly human and normal as two girls were fighting over one man. Jo let out a laugh and place a reassuring hand on my arm. "Relax, Ry. Honestly, you can have him because your face is lit up right now. You finally met a tiger that you thought was cute and now you want to go pet it." I looked up at her and right my mouth against my folded hands. I glanced at her with pleading eyes.

"I don't know what happened, Jo." I muttered. "It just hit me." She laughed again, her brown eyes shining with amusement.

"Uh, yeah, I was beginning to think your hormones were broken if you didn't find him attractive. Don't fight it, Riley. You deserve a little fun and happiness." I looked over my shoulder again to see Dean and Sam still talking to Ash. Glancing back at Jo, I flashed my red eyes at her.

"I'm a monster, Jo. I don't deserve anything." I got up from my barstool and walked straight past the men, making my way up the steps to my bedroom. I trudged down the hallway to my room and closed the door behind me, leaning my back against it and throwing my head back. I would be lying if I said I didn't wait by that door all night to hear a knock. It never came.


	3. Chapter 3

Man after man, hunter after hunter, I tried distracting myself the thoughts that rolled through my head. The thoughts of Dean with his pure, green eyes and his crooked smile. His short, husky laugh and the way he spoke. Each man that I slept with to get that hunter off my mind was more disappointing than the last. Every one of them, I ended imaging that it was Dean between my legs. It was his fingers tangling themselves within my hair. It was his warmth and his sweet scent that I woke up to instead of body odor and stale beer. No matter how many hunters I slept with, Dean was still on my mind.

I sat at the bar counter, my chin resting on top of my left hand while I spun my beer glass absently around with my free hand. Jo was behind me in the back corner beating some hunter at a hunting game before bussing some tables while Ellen was behind the bar serving the people that come trickling in through out the night. I traveled back and forth between Bobby's and Ellen's for weeks hoping to run into Dean again, but I always seemed to miss him. Ellen glanced over at me as my head fell to one side.

"Are you going to drink that, Riley, or just play with it?" She inquired.

"I'm just going to let it go flat." I said nonchalantly. "Like my taste in men." She walked over to me and took my play toy away from me, giving me a look of confusion.

"What are you talking about?" I moved both my hands under my chin and stared at the counter in front of me.

"I think I'm broken, Ellen." She placed her hands on her hips and waited for an answer. I sighed. "You wouldn't understand." The door to the roadhouse opened and the cold, gentle night breeze swept through the bar before the door closed.

"Just can't stay away, huh?" I heard Jo say and I was half-tempted to raise my head and turn to see who she was talking to, but I was too lovesick to care. Then, I heard that sensual chuckle that had me rising and turning in my seat to see Jo beaming up at Dean. I melted a little as I observed him in his blue jeans and dark leather coat. Ellen slapped her towel on the counter before flicking it over her shoulder.

"Oh, yeah, I understand." She muttered, unamused and turned to serve some more customers. I ignored her and continued watching Dean.

"Yeah, looks like." Dean chuckled to Jo. "How you doing, Jo?" Sam came rushing up to Dean's left side, his face contorted with anxiety and panic. I quickly glanced down to notice his right hand in a cast. Must have injured it on a hunt.

"Where's Ash?" He asked Jo.

"In his back room." Jo answered.

"Great." He pushed past Jo and sped walk to the back of the roadhouse.

"And I'm fine."

"Sorry." Dean apologized. "He's—we're kind of on a bit of a timetable."

"Mm-hmm." Dean gave Jo one last smile before following his little brother to Ash's room. I didn't realize that I was staring until Jo came up to my left side. "I swear, you look like a dog waiting for a piece of bacon." My head snapped in her direction, brows furrowing and mouth open in a silent gasp. "Riley, relax, play it cool." My brow furrowed even more as I clenched my teeth and growled at her.

"I don't know how to play it _cool,_ Jo." I snarled. "The only way I know is to be blunt. All I have to do is go up to any one of these men and say, _Hey, let's go up to my room and have sex._ "

"Then, go do that and get Dean out of your system before your eyes pop out from too much ogling." I narrowed my eyes at her.

"I am not _ogling._ I'm just admiring God's creation." Jo rolled her eyes and grabbed her tray from the counter.

"You're ogling." I threw up hands up in exasperation before covering my eyes and sighing in defeat.

"Then, what am I supposed to do, Jo? I don't know how to flirt." Jo laughed at my frustration which caused me to snarl at her again. "It's not funny, Jo. I need him out of my system so I can move on with my life and stop freaking obsessing." She only laughed even harder before she finally collected herself and placed a hand on my upper arm.

"Ok, ok, ok. Just play—"

"I swear to God, Jo, if you tell me to just play it _cool—"_

"Just play it cool, Riley. Men like Dean want women obsess over them. They get off on it. Women obsessing over them is their way in. Men like Dean want women to do exactly what you're doing right now so in the end, they win."

"I don't like it when I lose. You know I don't like it when I lose."

"That's why you have to just play it cool. Ignore him. Let the tiger come to you to be pet." I pursed my lips and thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Ok. I'll try it your way." I got up and moved around the other side of the counter to make myself a rum and coke before sitting back down in my original seat and Jo went back to bussing tables. A few moments passed before Dean and Sam came back out following Ash with his laptop in his hands to a table. Ash and Sam sat down while Dean stood there and said a few things before coming to the bar and ordered a beer. He took his leather jacket and draped it over the back of his chair revealing his army green overshirt with a brown shirt under it, his gold necklace standing out against it.

His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and I dropped my head and closed my eyes as my entire body seized with hormones. After taking a few deep breaths, I opened my eyes and looked back up. He sat down about four seats from me and every nerve in my body was telling me to look at him, I forced myself to observe the rest of the hunters in the bar. Jo walked over to the jukebox by the front door with a mischievous smile on her flawless face and I watched wearily as she punched in a few buttons to play a song. I glared at her when _Can't Fight this Feeling_ by _R.E.O Speedwagon_ started playing overhead.

She purposely didn't meet my gaze as she took his full tray of dishes over to the bar and set them down between Dean and me. I tentatively looked past Jo to see Dean's face contorted with confusion about the song being played. Jo glanced at me for a second before turning to face Dean.

"What?" She asked him. I sipped my drink, observing the conversation.

"R.E.O. Speedwagon?" He questioned her.

"Damn right, R.E.O. Kevin Cronin sings it from the heart."

"He sings it from the hair. There's a difference." I smiled and let out of a low chuckle as he sipped his beer. Jo glanced over to see her mother working on the other side of the bar before turning her attention back to Dean.

"That profile you've got Ash looking for? Your mom died the same way, didn't she—" I stared at Jo in awe. This woman was amazing. The ability she had to talk to him with confidence. She was a freaking goddess. I didn't take my eyes off her as I sipped my drink some more. "The fire in Sam's nursery?" I noticed Dean's face become tense with the memories that had to be going through his mind at that moment. Though his shoulders were tight, his tone when he spoke again was calm and collected.

"Look, Jo, it's kind of a family thing."

"Riley could help." I sat straight up and stared at her in complete shock and confusion. That was completely unexpected. I did not see that one coming. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. Dean glanced over at me and smiled before looking back at Jo. "Or I could help."

"I'm sure you could, but we got to handle this ourselves. Besides, if I ran off with you, I think your mother might kill me." Ellen stopped polishing the glass in her hand and furrowed her brows at Dean who nervously smiled back at her.

"You're afraid of my mother?"

"I think so." Sam rushed over to Dean with a file in his good hand

"We have a match." He told Dean breathlessly. "We got to go."

"All right, Jo. See you later." Polishing off the rest of his beer, he stood up and grabbed his coat and walked past Jo and walked straight past me without saying a word and out the front door he went. I looked from the door to Jo to the drink in front of me, processing the entire conversation in my head. The more I thought about it, the more confused I got. I looked over at Jo, my hands out in a _What the hell?_ gesture.

"I played it _cool,_ Jo." I said. "It got me nowhere." I stood up and walked away from the bar to her.

"But you feel better that you didn't give into your hormones, don't you?" I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head.

"No, Jo, I don't. You know what? I feel even worse now." I pushed past her to head to my room. "Last time I'm listening to you." My stomach twisted and turned as I tried to fight this feeling raging inside me.


	4. Chapter 4

"Stop it, you two!" I yelled as I followed the path of destruction through the roadhouse. Jo and Ellen were on a warpath because Jo found a hunt but Ellen wasn't allowing her to go. I understood both sides of view because Bobby and I often got into the same arguments. He would tell me no only because he was looking out for me but I was my own person. I was an adult.

"Tell her I'm going!" Jo shouted at me and I held my hands up in mercy.

"Over my dead body!" Ellen yelled at her.

"You're flipping out over nothing!"

"I am your mother! I don't have to be reasonable!" Ellen knocked over a barstool and I quickly walked past the two women and picked it back up and pulled the rest of the chairs off the table to avoid anymore falling. They walked down the steps to the main floor of the bar still shouting at each other.

"Yelling at each other is not going to solve anything!" I snarled as I hastily followed them, taking the chairs from Ellen so that she's not throwing them around. "Ellen, I could go with her so she's not by herself."

"Right, Riley, let me call Bobby and see how he feels about _that_ idea!"

"You can't keep me here!" Jo shouted.

"Don't you bet on that, sweetie!"

"What are you going to do? Are you gonna chain me up in the basement?"

"Don't tempt her, Jo." I muttered. "She just might just do it to shut you up." Jo glared at me as I went to the next table to pull the chairs down before Ellen could get to them. The front door opened, allowing Dean and Sam to walk in.

"You've had worse ideas than that recently." Ellen snapped at her daughter. "You don't want to stay? Don't—go back to school!"

"I didn't belong there!" Jo reminded her. "I was a freak with a knife collection!"

"Getting yourself killed on some dusty back road— _that's_ where you belong?" Jo finally stopped talking and looked over her mother's shoulder to stare at Dean and Sam. Ellen turned and faced them. "Guys, bad time."

"Yes, ma'am." Sam politely said.

"We rarely drink before ten anyway." Dean joked before turning to head back out the door but Jo stopped them.

"Wait." She said. "I want to know what they think about this."

"I don't care what they think!" Ellen yelled. I walked over to Jo's side.

"Don't bring them into this, Jo." I calmly told her and Jo glared at me, her hazel eyes fierce and hard with rage and frustration.

"Who's side you on?" She snapped at me.

"I don't care about sides, Jo. I just want you two to stop arguing." The telephone started ringing and Jo, Ellen and I looked from each other to the phone waiting for one of us to cave to answer it. After a moment, Ellen finally sighed and rolled her eyes as she walked over to the phone and picked it up, turning her back to the rest of us. As soon as Ellen started speaking on the phone, Jo snatched the file from behind the bar and rushed over to Dean and held it out to him. I followed her. Being in close proximity as Dean made my heart flutter, but I kept my focus on Jo to distract myself. "Jo, no." I whispered to her. "Do not bring them into this." She ignored me and continued to hold out the file to Dean.

"Three weeks ago, a young girl disappears from a Philadelphia apartment." Jo said quietly and hastily. Dean eyed the file in her hands, almost afraid to take it from her. "Take it. It won't bite."

"No, but your mom might." Dean said. Jo persistently continued to hold the file out to him until he finally took it from her and opened it, reviewing all the newspaper clippings inside.

"And this girl wasn't the first. Over the past eighty years, six women have vanished—all from the same building, all young blondes. It only happens every decade or two, so cops never eyeball the pattern. So we're either dealing with one very old serial killer—"

"Who put this together? Ash?"

"I did it myself." Dean looked at her for a moment before grunting and looking back down at the file in his hands.

"I got to admit, we hit the road for a lot less." Sam said.

"Good." Ellen snapped, coming from around the bar and up to her daughter's left side. "If you like the case so much, _you_ take it."

"Mom!" Jo whined.

"Joanna Beth, this family has lost enough. I won't lose you, too. I just won't." That kept Jo quiet and she allowed the Winchester brothers to leave with her case.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I woke up the next morning and walked down to the bar to see Ellen leaning against the counter alone with a piece of paper in her hand. I looked around for Jo but didn't see her. Ellen looked up as I made my way over to her.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"It's Jo." She mumbled. "She left me a note saying that she went to Vegas. I don't believe it for a second." I leaned against the counter and placed my chin in my hand.

"Did you call the boys?" She sighed and ran her hand down her face.

"I called Dean. He said she wasn't with them. I don't know if I believe that either." I shrugged my shoulders.

"If he says she isn't there, then she isn't there. Let me run to Vegas and see if I can find her. I'll call you if I find anything." She gave me a half-hearted smile.

"Thank you." Grabbing my shoes and my jacket by the front door, I jumped in my Camaro and drove like hell towards Philadelphia. It took me a little under twenty hours to get there but when I did, I found the apartment where the last tenant died and if I was working this case, I would be staying in the apartment to save on cheap motel rooms. I knocked on the door and a few moments passed before the door opened revealing Dean dressed with a black shirt and a red button up overshirt. Sam was seated at the table in the middle of the room with research spread out in front of him wearing a pale blue overshirt and a white t-shirt and sure enough, Jo was leaning against the table right next to him. I scoffed as I pushed past Dean, keeping my eyes on Jo and Dean closed the door behind me.

"Well, and to think that I just got done vouching for Dean here that he wouldn't lie to your mother about you not being here." I snarled. "I also told her that I would call her as soon as I found out where you were, Jo." I waved my hands in defeat. "What the hell am I supposed to do, Jo? You got me in a box here."

"I'm not an idiot, Riley. I got Ash to leave a credit card trail all the way to the casinos." Jo gloated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"When she finds out that not only you lied to her, but Dean lied to her as well and now I'm lying to her by not calling her, how do you think she's going to react?"

"Why do you care? She's not your mother." A sharp pain went through my heart as I swallowed that truth. I always treated Ellen like my mother and it always hurt when I was reminded she wasn't actually my mother. My mother died a long time ago. My eyes flashed red with anger and a cup rattled on the marble countertop but stopped as I calmed myself down.

"No, Jo, she's not, but I do respect her like a mother and I do not like lying to her."

"Call her. Don't call her. Just make up your damn mind, Riley." My fingers twitched as I thought about reaching for my phone to call Ellen. But then again, if all four of us worked this case and got it over with, I could get Jo back home before Ellen found out about anything. I closed my eyes and sighed in defeat. Reopening my eyes, I looked at Jo with calm, clear blue eyes.

"Tell me about this case." Her smile took up her entire face as she turned to the research behind her and I walked up to her side to look at the blueprints of the building.

"This place was built in 1924." She explained, picking up her dad's old pocketknife and twirling it through her fingers. "It was originally a warehouse, converted into apartments a few months ago." Dean moved to the other side of the table and began pacing behind Jo, listening to the information.

"Yeah?" He muttered. "What was here before 1924?"

"Nothing. An empty field."

"So most likely scenario someone died bloody in the building, and now he's back and raising hell." Sam muttered, going through the articles.

"Already checked. In the past eighty-two years, zero violent deaths, unless you count a janitor who slipped on a wet floor. Would you sit down, please?" Dean stopped pacing and stared at the back of Jo's head before smirking and going to sit down in the chair next to her.

"So, have you checked the police reports, county death records?" I questioned her, going through the paperwork to look for that information.

"Obituaries, mortuary reports, and seven other sources. I know what I'm doing."

"I think the jury's still out on that one." Dean muttered. Sam's mouth became a tight line as he tried not to smile and forced himself to frown instead. "Would you put the knife down?" Jo stopped twirling her knife and stared at Dean before smirking and setting her knife gently on the table.

"Okay." Sam said. "So, uh, it's something else, then. Maybe some kind of cursed object that brought a spirit with it."

"That means we have to scan the entire building." I sighed.

"Right." Dean said. "So, you and me—" He pointed to Jo. "—we'll take the top two floors." I straightened up.

"I don't like that idea. She comes with me."

"We'd move faster if we split up." Jo argued.

"Oh, this isn't negotiable." Dean smirked at her before turning to me. "I won't let her out of my sight, Riley. I promise." I moved my weight from hip to hip biting my lip, debating whether I trusted him or not. I eventually nodded my agreement.

"If anything happens to her, _anything,_ I will throttle you." I vowed, flashing my eyes for emphasis.

"Understood."

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Sam and I didn't find anything on the bottom two floors but Jo and Dean did find a tuft of blonde hair tucked away in one of the vents. Disgusting. Jo stayed up all night while she went through the entire case again just in case she missed anything. Dean, no surprise, fell asleep in one of the armchairs in the living room while Sam went out to get coffee. I was doing another sweep of the floors, trying to figure exactly how these girls are disappearing. As I was making loop on our floor, I ran into Sam who looked distressed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Another disappearance," was all he said as he rushed back to the apartment with me behind him. He opened the door to Jo and Dean sitting at the table together. Dean looked to his little brother, his eyes squinted as if he just woke up.

"Where's the coffee?" He asked.

"There's cops outside. Another girl disappeared."

"I'll go find out what I can about the girl. Stay here and see what else you find out." After changing clothes, Dean left. Sam and Jo sat on the floor, papers scattered all around them. I was looking through a stack of old photographs of the surrounding area. If there was no violent deaths within this building then maybe there was a death nearby and the body was buried within the building. It was about an hour before Dean came back. "Theresa Ellis—Apartment 2F. Her boyfriend reported her missing around dawn."

"And her apartment?" Jo asked.

"Cracks all over the plaster—walls, ceiling. There's ectoplasm, too."

"Between that and that tuft of hair, I'd say the sucker's coming from the walls." Sam guessed.

"But who is it? The building's history's totally clean." I stopped at one photograph of two buildings on either side of an empty field. The empty field was where the apartment building was built. The building to the right looked like a warehouse but the building to the left looked like an old castle type building with bars on the window. A prison.

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place." I said.

"What do you mean?" I held the photograph out to the him and he took it.

"An empty field?" Sam questioned me.

"That's where this building was built. Take a look at the one next door." They looked at the photograph for several seconds and I scratched my forehead impatiently. "The windows, geniuses."

"Bars."

"We're next door to a prison?" Dean inquired. Jo reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to call Ash to get some information about the prison.

"Thanks, Ash." She finished the phone call. "Oh, and if you breathe a word of this to my mom—that's right. I will. With pliers." She hung up and walked back over to us. "Okay. Moyamensing Prison—built in 1835, torn down in 1963. And get this—they used to execute people by hanging them in the field next door."

"Well, then, we need a list of all the people executed there." Sam sighed. Within minutes, Jo had Ash send over the list of executed prisoners. Sam pulled it up on to his laptop and we looked over his shoulder as he scrolled through the list. "One hundred fifty seven names?"

"We got to narrow that down." Dean uttered.

"Yeah."

"Or else we're gonna be digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs." Sam's brows furrowed as he stopped scrolling through the list and stared at a particular name. He clicked a name to highlight it. _Herman Webster Mudgett._

"Herman Webster Mudgett?"

"What about it?" I challenged. Sam sat there for a moment, his eyes flicking from left to right as he deciphered whatever information was going through his mind. His face lit up with realization.

"Wasn't that H. H. Holmes' real name?"

"You got to be kidding me." Dean muttered before snatching the laptop from Sam and began to furiously type away. Sam got up from his chair which Dean quickly occupied. Moments later he pulled up an old newspaper article titled _Multi-Murderer Meets His Match: Holmes Executed at Moyamensing May 7_ _th_ _._ "Yep. Holmes was executed at Moyamensing May 7th, 1896."

"H. H. Holmes himself. Come on. I mean, what are the odds?"

"You sound just a little too excited there, Sam." I spoke, crossing my arms over my chest. "Calm down."

"Who is this guy?" Jo demanded.

"The term _multi-murderer_ came from H. H. Holmes. He was America's first serial killer. They could only describe him as a multi-murderer before they knew what a serial killer was."

"He confessed to twenty-seven murders." Sam said. "But some put the death toll at over a hundred."

"And his victim flavor of choice—pretty, petite blondes." Dean announced. "He, uh, used chloroform to kill them, which is what I smelled in the hallway last night." I gave him a concerning look.

"I do not want to know how you know what chloroform smells like." I mumbled. Dean narrowed his eyes at me before continuing.

"At his place, cops found human remains. Bone fragments, and long locks of bloody blonde hair. Boy, he sure knew how to pick them."

"We just find the bones, salt them, and burn them, right?" Jo inquired.

"It's not that easy." Sam proclaimed. "His body is buried in town, but it's encased in a couple tons of concrete."

"What? Why?"

"The story goes that he didn't want anybody mutilating his corpse 'cause, you know, it's what he used to do." Dean explained.

"You know something?" Sam spoke before chuckling. "We might have an even bigger problem than that."

"How does it get bigger than the spirt of a serial killer?" I asked, splaying my hands.

"Holmes built an apartment building in Chicago. They called it The Murder Castle. They had trapdoors, acid vats, quicklime pits. He built these secret chambers. . . inside the walls. He'd lock his victims in, keep them alive for days. Some, he'd suffocate. Others, he'd let starve to death."

"So Theresa could still be alive?" Jo asked. "She could be inside _these_ walls."

"We need sledgehammers, crowbars." Dean said, abruptly standing up from his chair and grabbing his coat before heading to the door. "We got to smash these walls. Anywhere thick enough to hide a girl."

"Sam and I will take the first two floors. You and Jo start at the top and we'll meet in the middle." I directed before walking towards the door. Dean opened it for me and I stepped out into the hallway with Sam behind me and Jo following after Dean.

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

"Get it off, get it off me." I whined, brushing my hands frantically over my body trying to get the cobwebs off that were clinging to me. Sam sighed behind me. It was a tight fit in the walls, smelling of mildew and stale air. It was cold and dark, the only light being from our flashlights. Cobwebs were every where and every time I brushed up against the wall, a new bundle of cobweb clung to me causing me to feel like I had hundreds of tiny little spiders crawling all over me.

"There's nothing on you, Riley." Sam repeated for the tenth time, wiping his hand down my back to help me get the cobwebs off. "Honestly, you're making a big deal over something so small." Cursing under my breath, I pushed forward eager to get back through the hole that we crawled through. We just finished searching the first floor with no luck of finding Theresa.

"If I had enough room in here, I would turn around and hit you for that comment. Something that small should not have that many legs." That invisible substance hit me in the face and I yelped and dropped my flashlight, clawing at my face. Composing myself, I picked up my flashlight and continued. "I hope this hunt is freaking worth it to Jo. I hope she's getting spiders all over her and all up in her hair. Where the hell are we?"

"We're almost there. Keep going. Make a left at the junction."

"I want a shower. I want some tomater soup with parsley and cheese and garlic powder. I want to go home. I want—" Something tingling began to crawl up my arm and I froze. The hair on my arm tickled as something moved past each follicle. I whimpered as I brushed my hand up and down my arm, sending the parasite far away from me. "I know damn well that was a spider, Sam! Send me to face serial killer spirits or vampires or werewolves, but hell no to spiders! I can't do it. I can't take it anymore, Sam." I turned to the wall to my right. "What is on the other side of this wall?" Sam pulled out his map and shined his flashlight on it, pinpointing our location.

"Should be the hallway on the southwest side of the building."

"Great." I reached down into the well that was buried deep inside of me. The well that contained all of my raw power. The well that I tried so very hard to ignore. I grabbed just a pinch of that power and my muscles burned as they welcomed the familiar strength coursing through them. Once I gained control over that small amount of power and kept the rest of it down, I shot out my fist and connected it with the studs in front of me. The plaster crumbled around us and Sam coughed at the dust surrounding him. I simply waved a hand to brush it away as I stepped through the hole I created and out into the well lit hallway. I dissipated the energy in my veins and locked down that power well once more. Sighing, I placed my hands on my hips and tilted my head back in relief. "God, that feels so much better. Come on, let's go find Dean and Jo." Turning to head down the hallway to go Dean and Jo's last location, Dean came around the corner, very distressed and panting.

"He's got Jo." Dean panted and my blood ran cold as it drained from my face.

"He what?" I snarled through clenched teeth.

"I wasn't with her. I left her alone. Riley, I'm sor—" He didn't even have time to finish that apology before my right fist connected with his nose. "Damn it!" Everything I felt for this man went right out the window as rage overtook my body. I made a move to throw my left fist to his jaw but fingers dug into my shoulders as Sam pulled me back. I yanked against Sam's grasp but without my supernatural strength, he was stronger than me and kept me away from his older brother. Dean groaned as he clutched his nose before looking at me, his eyes full of anger and guilt.

"I'm sorry." I snapped, my eyes blazing red. "It sounded like you just said that you left her alone after you specifically told me that you wouldn't let her out of your sight. You told me that you wouldn't _anything_ happen to her!" My voice got louder as I spoke, not with anger but with fear for my sister. Jo was my sister and she was gone. My chest grew tight with anxiety as I thought about what could happen to her. What could be happening to her right now. I pulled against Sam again but he held firm. "You promised, Dean." The corner of Dean's eyes sagged with sorrow and regret as he swallowed hard.

"I know." He whispered. "I'm sorry. I will get her back. I promise." With one final tug, I broke free from Sam's grasp and stalked over to Dean and looked up at him.

"Your promises mean _nothing_ to me as of right now." I pushed past him and stormed down the hallway to the our apartment with the brothers following after me.

"Look, we'll find her." Sam said softly, coming up behind me.

"Where?"

"Inside the walls."

"We've been inside these walls all night, Sam! None of the other girls are there! She won't be either!" I threw open the door to the apartment and walked in, running my fingers through my hair in exasperation. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself before my rage opened up the well inside me and let out my power.

"Look, take a beat and think about this. Maybe we got Holmes' M.O. wrong." Sam walked over to the research on the table and began scrambling through while I grabbed the old newspaper articles that Dean found and read through them once more, hoping that we missed something that would help us find Jo.

"Well, we better friggin' think fast." Dean said, coming up beside me. Guilt started to settle in the pit of my stomach as I thought about how I jumped Dean. He was probably already feeling guilty for losing Jo and I most likely made him feel worse. That was my heart talking. My brain, on the other hand, said that he should feel guilty about breaking his promise. I internally growled at myself and began to focus on the case as Dean's phone began to play _Dead in the Water._ He pulled it out of his front jean pocket and answered it. "Yeah?"

"You lied to me." I heard Ellen snap on the other end of the phone. "She's there."

"Ellen."

"Ash told me everything. The man's a genius, but he folds like a cheap suit. Now, you put my damn daughter on the phone."

"She's going to have to call you back. She's, uh, taking care of feminine business."

"Yeah, right. Where is she?" Dean was silent for a moment, trying to come up with another lie or trying to find a way to gently break the news to Ellen. "Where is she?!"

"Look, we'll get her back."

"Get her back? Back from what?"

"The spirit we're hunting—it took her."

"Oh, my God."

"She'll be okay. I promise." I snorted.

"You and your empty promises." I muttered, leaning over the table.

"You promise?" Ellen growled. "That is not the first time I've heard that from a Winchester." That caused me to straighten up and looked over at Dean, narrowing my eyes at the phone. Dean looked to me for an explanation but I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what she meant by that.

"What?" Dean questioned her.

"If anything happens to her—"

"It won't. I won't let it. Ellen, I'm sorry. I really am."

"I'm taking the first flight out. I'll be there in a few hours." The line went dead and Dean shut his phone.

"Damn it!"

"Don't beat yourself up, Dean." Sam tried to reassure his older brother. "There's nothing you could have done."

"Um, he could have not let her go off by herself for one." I retorted, turning to Dean to glare at him. He returned the stare.

"I don't know if we're talking about the same girl here, Riley." Dean snapped. "Have you met that woman? That woman is so hard headed, she could break a brick with her head." I bared my teeth at him and snarled and he turned his attention back to Sam. "Tell me you got something."

"Oh, maybe." Sam sighed. "Look. If you look at the layout of the Holmes Murder Castle, there's other torture chambers inside the walls, right?"

"Right."

"But there's one we haven't considered yet—the one in his basement."

"This building doesn't have a basement."

"You're right. It doesn't. But I just noticed this. Beneath the foundation, it looks like part of an old sewer system. It hasn't been used for—"

"Let's go." I snapped, walking to the door, not waiting for Sam to finish his sentence and not caring if they followed me. I was going to get my sister back, with or without their help.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

After grabbing a metal detector and shovels, we headed to the back of the building and started making our way down the alley. Sam swept the ground with the metal detector searching for any signs of the old sewer system. The machine started squealing and we followed it down another alley to an empty lot. The detector continued squealing as Sam held it over a certain spot.

"Here." He confirmed. I took a shovel from Dean and stabbed into the ground beginning to dig with Dean on the other side of me helping. I let my anger and determination fuel me, thinking that with each shovelful of dirt I pulled out, I was one stepped closer to Jo. We dug about a half foot before our shovels scrapped across metal.

Tossing my shovel to the side, I crouched down and brushed away the excess dirt, revealing a trapdoor. There were two handles at the top of the door. Dean and Sam both grabbed a handle and pulled as hard as they could, grunting as the heavy trapdoor creaked open. I peered down the empty darkness to see stepping prongs sticking out of one side. It was so dark, I couldn't see the bottom of it.

Dean handed Sam a shotgun full of rock salt before taking another shotgun for himself. I chose to grab the iron crowbar and waited for Dean to start climbing down before I followed after him with Sam behind me. Every couple of steps down, Dean would shine his flashlight below him, trying to find the bottom. We finally made it to the bottom but the only way to go was through a tunnel that was big enough to fit me, it was a tight fit for Dean and was a struggle for Sam. Dean began army crawling through the tunnel and Sam and I joined him.

I ignored the pungent smell as I crinkled my nose keeping my eyes focused on Dean's flashlight in front of me. The tunnel was lined with a dark grey brick with a stream of what looked to be sewage water running beneath us, trickling along down the tunnel. We finally made it to an opening where we could stand up and face a grate that led to a circular room filled with chambers that were embedded into the walls. Each chamber was made of metal and big enough to fit an average size woman. I peered past Dean to see a dull grey spirit. He had a thick beard with stringy hair. His clothes were dirty and ragged and his skin was leathery and full of grime. He was reaching into one of the crates where there was a muffled scream. Jo.

"Hey!" Dean called out and the spirit of Holmes turned to face him. Dean poked the barrel of his gun through the grate and fired rock salt causing the spirit to dissipate with a yelp. Shoving the door open, I pushed past Dean and ran inside.

"Jo!" I yelled.

"I'm here!" She replied and my heart fluttered with relief as I ran to her crate and peered at her through the slit on the side. I let out a relieving laugh as I smiled at her, sticking my fingers through the hole to touch her hand.

"Watch out." Dean said as he came up beside me with a steel rod. He stuck it between the door of the crate and the lock and yanked it apart. The lock made a satisfying crack before falling to the ground, broken. I helped him lift the steel door up and held it up while Jo crawled out and crumbled to the floor. Dropping the door, I grabbed Jo by the edge of her red flannel shirt and helped her up. Her brown eyes filled with joy and happiness and relief and I pulled her into my arms for a hug. I closed my eyes and muttered a prayer of thanks, breathing deeply.

"Don't ever go off by yourself again, Jo." I whispered to her. Holding onto her for another moment, I pulled away from her and began to scan my eyes over her body to make sure she wasn't physically injured. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better." She coughed. "Let's get the hell out of here before he comes back."

"Actually, I don't think you're leaving here just yet." Dean panted. There was a thud across the room as Sam broke the locks off another crate and opened it to reveal another blonde woman that had to be Theresa. Her hair was in mats and she had a gash across her forehead that was dried and caked with blood.

"What?" Jo and I exclaimed.

"Remember when I said you being bait was a bad plan? Now it's kind of the only one we got." I raised my eyebrows and scratched my forehead.

"You have got to be kidding me." I mumbled.

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After making sure that Theresa was safely taken out of the sewer and to a hospital to be checked over, we made our way back to the chamber and started to get to work. We lined the ceiling of the torture chamber with pouches of salt. Jo was going to be the bait and when Holmes came for her, we would trap him in the chamber with a circle of salt. Sam, Dean and I waited in the darkness behind the entranceway watching Jo sit by herself in the middle of the room. She had her knees tucked into her chest as she looked around her surroundings wearily.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself down every time her nerves started to get the best of her. The only noise that echoed through the tunnels were the occasionally drop of water. Hours seemed to pass when Holmes finally appeared behind Jo. I tensed up ready to jump in to protect my sister but Dean held up his hand, signaling me to wait. Step by step, the spirit slowly began to walk towards Jo.

She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to stay still as she felt his presence behind her. He was leaning down to touch her and just before his fingers could brush against her hair, Dean yelled, "Now!" Jo crouched low to the ground and crawled as fast as she could back to us and once she was clear, Dean and Sam fired at the salt, triggering the trap. The pouches lining the ceiling dropped, encasing the entire room and Holmes in a circle of salt. I helped Jo climb the rest of the way through the gate and closed it behind her. Holmes starting prancing around, eyes wide with fear as he began mumbling and finally started screaming. He continued screaming as he turned around in circles staring at the salt.

"Scream all you want, you dick!" Jo yelled at him. "There's no way you're stepping over that salt!"

"Aah!" Holmes screamed. "Aah!" Leaving him to his screaming and endless doom, we made our way back out of the sewer. Once we got to the surface, I pulled Jo to the side while Sam and Dean took a couple steps away from us. I noticed Dean began to walk off and leave while Sam stood there, giving us space. I turned to Jo. I didn't know whether to rip her ass for going off by herself or to be thankful that I had her back.

"I know what you're going to say, Riley." She said. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"I didn't know you were a mind reader, Jo." I chuckled.

"You're going to say that the next time I go off by myself, you're going to kick my ass." I laughed and rolled my eyes.

"Wow, you are a mind reader." She smiled at me. My smile turned into a frown as I stared at her. "But, I'm serious, Jo. I can't lose you. You're the only one I have to talk to."

"You have Bobby."

"I don't think Bobby would appreciate me talking about boys to him." She giggled and I joined her before Sam started walking over to us.

"So. . ." He said, walking around Jo to her right side as they peered together down into the darkness of the trapdoor. "Is this job as glamorous as you thought it would be?"

"Well, except for all the pee-your-pants terror, yeah." She answered. "But that Theresa girl's gonna live a life 'cause of us. It's worth it, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"Hey, what if somebody finds that sewer down there or a storm washes the salt away?"

"Both very fine points, which is why we're waiting here."

"For what?" A beeping noise sounded at the entrance of the empty lot and Jo and I turned to look at a cement truck backing up to the trapdoor. I squinted my eyes to see Dean's face in the side mirror.

"For that." Sam guided Dean up to the trapdoor before signaling him to stop. He dropped the cement chute into the trapdoor and Dean got out of the truck and walked back to us.

"You ripped off a cement truck?" I laughed at Dean.

"I'll give it back." Dean smiled at me, his green eyes bright again as he walked over to the truck and pulled the lever allowing the cement to come sliding down the chute and down into the trapdoor. "Well, that ought to keep him down there till Hell freezes over." I laughed and leaned into Dean, allowing his presence to spark that familiar back inside me.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

"What do you think they're talking about in there?" Sam asked me as I followed the Impala closely back to Nebraska. Ellen had shown up a few hours later like she said she would and was not happy in the slightest bit. After yelling at me for lying to her and not calling her, she ordered Dean to take her and her daughter home. Sam climbed into my Camaro with me and we began the twenty-one hour drive back to Nebraska.

"If I know Ellen, she's probably giving both of them the silent treatment until she gets to the privacy of her own home where she'll rip Jo's ass and probably kill me in my sleep." I muttered, resting my left elbow on the door and resting my temple on my fist. Sam didn't respond to that. It was daylight by the time we made it back to the roadhouse. I parked beside and got out. Ellen climbed out of the impala and grabbed her daughter by the arm and began escorting her inside. Dean followed after her with Sam and me behind him.

"Ellen." He called to her and she stopped to turn and look at him. "It was my fault, okay? I lied to you, and I'm sorry. But Jo did a good out there. I think her dad would be proud."

"Don't you dare say that—" Ellen growled, her eyes identical to Jo's when she got angry. "Not you. I need a moment with my daughter—alone." Dean looked from Jo to Ellen before walking out the roadhouse with Sam.

"Ellen," I began to say.

"I think it's time you head back to Bobby's, Riley." Her tone was as cold as her brown eyes and I nodded, swallowing hard. The sharp in my heart grew as I choked back the guilt and walked through the door. The agony lessened when I saw Dean leaning against the driver's door of my Camaro. I stopped in front of him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"You're in my way."

"Riley, I'm sorry. If I had dragged Jo back when she showed up, then you wouldn't be in this mess with Ellen right now." He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned forward a little bit.

"I'm a big girl. I can handle myself." The corner of his mouth rose into a half smile. "You're still in my way." He ignored me.

"Where are you headed now?"

"Well, if you get out of my damn way, I'll be headed to Bobby's until I find someway to get Ellen to forgive me. But you're in my way." Dean stepped aside and opened the door for me. I stepped forward and put one leg in the car before pausing. "I may even find myself a distraction." He rested his right arm gently on my window and his left arm on my roof and leaned forward.

"I'm pretty sure you've already found one." Giving him a daring smile, I rested my arm on the roof next to his and leaned into him. My eyes were fixated on his lips that were parted. I was close enough to him, our noses almost touched. I slowly inhaled his scent, savoring and remembering the intoxicating smell of Irish Spring. I could have moaned just from the scent of him. Gazing at those full lips for one more second, I raised my eyes to his. When my eyes locked on his, it like was something was tugging on my soul. Like something was trying to tether it to Dean. His pupils were dilated with his irises being a dark green fading to a fresh grass green along the outer edge. My smile grew with lust and desire.

"Well, then, it's a good thing you'll know exactly where I'll be." I sat down into my car and closed door, firing up the engine. Dean continued to stare at me through the glass as he stepped away from the car so I could back up. I whipped the car around, sending a cloud of dust up behind me and drove like hell to Bobby's place.


	5. Chapter 5

It had been several weeks since the hunt with Jo and Ellen sent me back to Bobby's place. I spoke to Ellen a few times over the phone and after many apologies, she forgave me for not turning Jo over to her. That woman had a temper, but she didn't hold a grudge for too long. Apparently a few days after the hunt, Jo packed her things and left. She sends Ellen postcards every now and then.

Ellen kept herself busy with the roadhouse and helped the Winchester brothers however she could whenever they passed through town. After several attempts of tracking down a valid phone number, I got a hold of Jo. Currently she in Duluth, Minnesota working at a bar. She said she needed space and to clear her mind and we spoke a couple times a week to keep each other update. After the hunt of Holmes' spirit, I wanted to do more hunts.

I enjoyed the thrill and the adrenaline rush. I craved the feeling of joy and relief of saving people. Not only that but working with a mind like Sam's and Dean's bravery was amazing. I begged Bobby to let me do more hunts, but he sternly told me no. Though he would never say it aloud, he was worried about me getting hurt.

I was a freak of nature and he was worried about me getting hurt. After many long conservations that went well into the night, he finally agreed if I could keep a lid on whatever was inside me and learn to control it. I was eager to try it. Growing up, he never let me touch my power because every time I tried to use them, a catastrophe always happened. So, he taught me to contain my abilities, making notes every time I got angry or excited and my powers escaped from inside me.

And now he was allowing me to reach down and pull out a little to practice with. It was well past ten o'clock at night as I sat at the kitchen table, my chin resting on my hands on the tabletop. My eyes were closed tightly, my brows pinched together as I concentrated. Defensive. That was his first rule.

I had to learn defense first. So, I was currently trying to form a shield around myself. I grinded my teeth in frustration as I kept reaching for the power, but it kept slipping through my grasp. Or I would touch it and it would feel like it was going to burst out of me like a flaming arrow so I would have to quickly smother it and start over. My forehead throbbed with effort as I reached down inside me again but couldn't reach it. I growled and slammed my fists onto the table, leaving burn marks on the wooden surface.

"It's not working, Bobby." I snapped at him who was sitting in his chair behind his desk in the other room going through research books and taking notes. "My powers are broken."

"I think it's just operator error." Bobby muttered, not looking up from his books and I glared at him. Closing my eyes again, I tried threading just a small amount of power out of that well but before I could get a good grip on it, it snapped back. I snarled, eyes burning red. "Didn't you say you bust through a wall?" I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but that was just in the heat of the moment, Bobby. I was in a cramp space with spiders all over my body and I wanted the hell out."

"But how did you do it?"

"I don't know, Bobby. I just did it. I wanted out, so I imagined myself busting through the wall and I did." He finally looked up from his research and peered at me from under his worn out blue and white baseball cap.

"Then, that's what you need to do. Imagine. Mind over matter, Riley." Squinting my eyes at him for a moment, I sat back in the chair and relaxed my forearms on the table. I closed my eyes and didn't think about that well inside me. I formed an image in my mind. It was an image of me sitting in the chair at the table with an orange, glowing shield around me. It would be enough to cover my entire body, appearing thin but able to stop any harm. Something crackled in front of me causing me to jump in my seat and open my eyes just in time to see an orange ball spark in front of me before sputtering out of sight.

"Oh! I think something happened!"

"Are you sure it wasn't just the lights flickering?" I bared my teeth at him.

"You're not being very helpful."

"Oh, princess, you need more help than what I can give you." I faked laughed before narrowing my eyes at him. The house phone began to ring, and Bobby picked up the landline from his desk and answered it. I figured it was a good time to take a break before I burned out. I got up and went to the fridge to grab something to drink. Grabbing a cold beer, I popped the cap off and took a swig from it, turning to face Bobby who hung up the phone. My alcohol was smooth as I swallowed, sighing in content. Bobby's face was filled with concern as he stood up and began to walk hastily to the kitchen. My face grew grim as I watched him.

"What is it, Bobby?" He opened the fridge and pulled open the bottom right drawer, double checking to make sure that the holy water beer was in there.

"That was Dean. Sam's been possessed by a demon and attacked Jo."

"What?! How did he find her? Is she okay?" Bobby closed the fridge and turned to me and held his hands up to calm me down as my blood began to boil.

"She's fine. Dean got there in time. She's okay. But now he thinks he's on his way here." My brows furrowed as I did the math in my head.

"If he was in Duluth, then that would be a six-hour drive to here. How long ago did this happen?"

"We have about two hours before he gets here so help me get this Devil's trap set up." Setting down my beer, I grabbed a chair and pulled it into the study and stood on it so I could reach the ceiling. Bobby handed me the spray can of black paint so I could start spraying the Devil's trap. I remembered when Bobby had me drawing Devil's traps all day to keep me busy while he was working. I became so good at making them, I could do it with my eyes closed. Gravel crunched outside the house and I stopped painting to look towards Bobby who returned my stare. I finished the last symbol and scrambled off the chair and set it back at the kitchen table just as a knock sounded on the door. Bobby pointed his finger at me, a warning to keep my cool and keep my powers on lockdown. I gave him a thumbs up to let him know that I was good. He walked to the front door and paused for a moment before turning the handle and opening the door to reveal Sam.

"Sam!" Bobby exclaimed with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Bobby." I heard Sam return the greeting.

"It's been a while. Well, come on in." Bobby stepped to the side to allow Sam to walk in and he came around the corner and smiled when he saw me but, something faltered in his eyes when he saw me. . . almost like he was disappointed to see me. I returned the smile, gritting my teeth as I forced the expression and crossed my arms over my chest to keep my fingers from twitching. Sam's usual hazel eyes looked darker to normal and the energy that was coming off his aura in waves was enough to suffocate me. It was dark and heavy, strong enough to cause my power to drum against my veins.

"Hey, Riley."

"What's happening, Sam?" I smiled.

"Working a job nearby and I thought I'd stop in and say hey."

"Where's Dean?" Bobby asked as he walked to the kitchen to open the fridge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grab two regular beers and one holy water beer. Sam chuckled as he stopped in the entranceway of the study.

"Holed up somewhere with a girl and a 12-pack." Sam looked towards me when he said it and once again, I saw something shift in his eyes, almost like mischievous or taunting. It could be the demon talking but it still pang my heart to think about Dean with someone else.

"Oh, yeah? Is she pretty?" I looked away from Sam trying to push my drumming power down. The aura that Sam had around him right now was taunting and teasing my power, coaxing it to reveal itself. There was something familiar about the energy I was feeling but I hated it, so I ignored it.

"You ask me, he's in way over his head." Bobby stood up straight and closed the fridge door before walking back over to Sam and me. He handed me a regular beer and held out the holy water beer to Sam who took it.

"Well, it's good to see you." We raised our bottles for a toast. "To John."

"To John." I echoed.

"To Dad." Sam breathed. We clinked the necks of our bottles together and took a sip. Bobby and I just took a sip as we curiously watched Sam who took a mouthful. Seconds after the alcohol went down his throat, he dropped his bottle, crying out in pain as steam rolled off his body. He doubled over in pain while Bobby and I just stood there and watched him. "What'd you do?"

"Little holy water in the beer." Bobby informed him as his body convulsed. "Sam never would have noticed, but, then, you're not Sam, are you? Don't try to con a con man." In one swift motion, I shot out my leg, the toe of my boot catching Sam in his temple to knock him out. He crumbled to the floor unconscious. "Get a chair and some rope, Riley." I set down my beer and grabbed a chair from the kitchen and set it in the middle of the Devil's trap while Bobby dragged Sam over to the chair. I went to the utility closet and found the rope before returning to Bobby. With great effort, we both hoisted Sam into the chair and began to tie his arms and legs to the chair for extra insurance. A rapid knock began banging on the front door.

"That's probably Dean." I said, leaving Bobby to finish up and walked over to the door. I opened it to see Dean with a worried look on his face. "He's fine. Unconscious, but fine. He's in the study." Dean tried to barge past me, but I slammed my open palm into his chest to stop him. I savored the heat radiating from him and the racing heartbeat beneath my fingertips. "Jo? Is she okay?" He ran his eyes over my face before answering.

"She's fine. A little banged up but she'll be fine. She's a fighter." I gave him a thankful smile before dropping my hand to allow him to go into the study to his little brother. Shutting the door, I followed him. Dean slapped Sam across the face, hard, as Bobby sat down a metal bucket of holy water. Sam groaned as him came back to reality. Bobby, Dean and I exchanged glances. Sam raised his eyes to the Devil's trap above him before looking at Dean and smirking at him.

"Dean." Sam growled. "Back from the dead. Getting to be a regular thing for you, isn't it? Like a cockroach."

"How about I smack that smart ass right out of your mouth?"

"Careful now. Wouldn't want to bruise this fine packaging."

"Oh, don't worry. This isn't gonna hurt Sam much." Dean turned and picked up the bucket of holy water. "You, on the other hand. . ." He threw the holy water at Sam and the demon growled and groaned as steam sizzled off his skin. "Feel like talking now?!"

"Sam's still my meat puppet. I'll make him bite off his tongue."

"No, you won't be in him long enough. Bobby." Bobby opened his book and began to recite the exorcism in Latin. Sam glared at Dean and breathed heavily. Dean stood there with a deadpan expression. "See, whatever bitch boy master plan you demons are cooking up, you're not getting Sam, you understand me?" The demon cried out in pain as his body convulsed under the pressure of the exorcism. "Cause I'm gonna kill every one of you first." Bobby continued to speak Latin as Sam threw his head back to yell which quickly turned into a demonic laugh causing Bobby to stop reading. We all exchanged confused glances.

"You really think that's what this is about—the master plan? I don't give a rat's ass about the master plan." Dean looked to Bobby and nodded for him to continue the exorcism. Bobby dipped his head and resumed reading in Latin from his book. The demon sat there with a smirk on his face and no reaction to the exorcism anymore. "Oops. Doesn't seem to be working. See, I learned a few new tricks." Sam tilted his head down and began chanting in Latin. The room began to shake and quiver as an invisible force swept through the room causing stacks of paper to fall or and books fly off the shelves. The lights flickered on and off. The fire roared higher, the flames escaping its cage and Bobby and I jumped in shock.

"This isn't going like I pictured. What's going on, Bobby?" Something caught my eye and I turned my attention to something poking up from Sam's right arm sleeve. I reached through the Devil's trap and turned his arm over to see some sort of symbol branded into his skin. I narrowed my eyes as I had never seen that on the normal Sam before. It was in the shape of a Q and something about it was familiar. I snapped my fingers at the men behind me as the thought began to form in my mind.

"It's uh, uh, uh, a binding link!" I yelled over the howling wind. "I read about these. It's like a lock. It's locked itself inside Sam's body."

"What the hell do we do?"

"I don't know!" Sam threw his head back and let out a shout. The ceiling cracked and broke the Devil's trap nullifying any power that it had. I looked up at it through squinted eyes, lips parted. "Well, God damn it." I muttered.

"There." Sam sneered, his entire eyes turning coal black. "That's better." He titled his head towards Bobby and me. Bobby was thrown back across the room before his back collided with the wall with a solid thud. I was sent flying to the other side of the room over Bobby's desk, sending stacks of research paper everywhere. After barreling into a pile of books, I crumbled to the floor in front of the fireplace and covered my head with my arms as I braced for impact of the now falling books over top of me. I waited for the impact, but it never came so I slowly took my arms off my head and looked up and gasped in shock. There was a thin orange layer between me and the books. It was the shield that I was trying to create earlier and now I just molded one without any thought about it. It had an orange neon glow and was transparent beside from the marble texture look in it. I reached out to touch it but before I could, it flickered and disappeared allowing the books to fall on me.

"Well, God damn it!" I mumbled through the smell of old parchment and ink. I shoved my arms through the books to open air and my hand fumbled about until the I found the edge of the desk and used it as leverage to help pull myself out of the books. I clung to the desk and stood myself up and look to the other side of the room to see Sam holding Dean the collar of his shirt, his right thumb pressing into what looked to be a bullet wound on Dean's left shoulder. The left side of Dean's face was bloodied as Sam must have been punching it. My eyes flashed red as I slowly climbed over the fallen books and made my way up behind Sam. As Sam raised his right arm to punch Dean again, I quickly snatched it in my left hand and closed my right hand over the binding link brand. My hand began to grow bright orange as it heated up. Sam cried out in pain as I burned through the first layer of his skin. The demon flew out of Sam's mouth in a thick, pitch black cloud of smoke as I burned through the second layer of skin. Once the demon disappeared up through the chimney, I let go of Sam and he crumbled to the ground breathing heavily. I gritted my teeth as I pulled in my power and to tried to slow my breathing down.

"Riley?" Bobby called to me as he climbed to his feet. I looked to him and inhaled deeply. After blinking my eyes a couple of times, the red irises were replaced by steel grey. My hand returned to its normal pale skin color as I locked my power back in its well.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Sam exhaled sharply as he sat up and clutched his burned arm.

"Sammy?" Dean breathed, his hand over his bullet wound to stop the bleeding. Sam looked from Dean, to Bobby, to me, confused and unaware of what just happened.

"Did I miss anything?" He inquired. Dean narrowed his eyes and glared at him before lunging, punching his little brother right in his jaw. Sam groaned and placed his hand on his jaw as he stared at Dean in shock while Dean moaned in pain as he landed on his bad shoulder. He just rolled over and laid there for a moment, nursing his shoulder.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

I sat on the edge of the kitchen table in front of Sam with his arm in my lap as I cleaned and bandaged his wound. The skin was scarred and marred and charred. With just a little tender, love and care, the tissue should be fully healed within a few weeks.

"I'm sorry." I said as I did one last wrap around his arm before securing the bandage with a clip. "I didn't mean to burn you that bad."

"It's okay, Riley." Sam smiled at me. "You did what you had to." He peered past me to Dean who sat at the end of the table leaning back in a chair with his legs propped up in front of him. He held an ice pack to the left side of his face, cooling the tender and swollen cuts and muscles. "By the way, you really look like crap, Dean."

"Yeah, right back at you." I laughed and set down the leftover bandages on the table before getting up and walking around the table to Dean. He seemed calm and at ease as I gingerly lifted his shirt sleeve. I was satisfied to see that he was no longer bleeding through his bandages. I rolled his sleeve back down, electric shocks running through my veins every time my fingers brushed against his skin. I took the ice pack from him and bent down to look at the side of his face. He had a small cut above his eyebrow and his cheekbone was a mixture red and pink and purple that traveled all the way up to his ear. The corner of his chin was in the similar conditions only just a lighter color.

"Mmm, you'll be fine." I mused, grinning as I gently placed the ice bag back on his face and he took it from me. "You're a fighter." The energy that came with the smile that he gave me was breathtaking. It raced through my veins like wild horses cleansing my body of any remainders of the demon's energy. I leaned against the table beside him and crossed my arms over my chest as Bobby walked into the kitchen, tapping the phone against his open palm.

"What is it, Bobby?" Sam asked.

"You boys ever hear of a hunter named Steve Wandell?" Bobby inquired. The brothers were quiet for a moment before Dean answered.

"Why do you ask?" Dean questioned him.

"Just heard from a friend, Wandell's dead—murdered in his own house." Dean and Sam swallowed hard but remained silent. "You wouldn't know anything about that."

"No, sir. Never heard of the guy."

"Dean." Sam whispered but Dean ignored him.

"Good." Bobby said. "Keep it that way. Wandell's buddies are looking for someone or something to string up. They're not gonna slow down to listen to reason. You understand what I'm saying?"

"We better hit the road." Dean said, tossing the ice bag onto the table and standing up. "If, uh, you can remember where we parked the car."

"Here. Take these." Bobby pulled out two pendants and handed them to the brothers.

"What are they?" Sam asked.

"Charms. They'll fend off possession. That demon's still out there. This will stop it from getting back up in you."

"That sounds vaguely dirty, but, uh, thanks." Dean said.

"You're welcome."

"You boys be careful, now, ya hear?" I said, scuffing my boots across the wooden floor.

"You too." Sam replied. I watched Dean as he followed his little brother out the back door. I sighed.

"Bobby?" I said.

"Yeah, Riley?" He answered.

"When can I start dating?" Bobby rolled his eyes and walked out of the kitchen and into the study.

"When I'm dead and cremated plus three days after just to make sure I'm dead." I laughed loudly and smiled.

"That totally does not sound fair, Bobby." I pushed off from the table and walked past him, playfully bumping him with my shoulder. "Night, Bobby."

"Nigh', Riley."


End file.
